Company law: takeover bids, protection of shareholders, workers rights to information, 13th directive

The European Parliament in its resolution rejected the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on takeover bids. The vote was tied 273 in favour, 273 against and 22 abstentions. The Parliament's Rules of Procedure state that where there is a tied vote, the text shall be deemed rejected. Parliament has therefore followed the recommendation by its rapporteur Klaus-Heiner LEHNE (EPP/ED, Germany) who opposed the conciliation agreement mainly on the grounds that the requirement for the board of a company which is the object of a takeover bid to refrain from taking defensive action until it has consulted its shareholders could only be justified if a "level playing field" existed. Since, according to Mr. Lehne, there is no level playing field either at international or European level and the joint text did not resolve this problem, he argued that the conciliation agreement should be rejected. �